In a masturbatory bid to “stand up to the neo-Marxist tide sweeping the west”, Romanians will march to the nearest voting booths on the 6th and 7th of October, to preemptively ensure same-sex marriage is not legalised in their country anytime soon. Mind you, it has never even been seriously suggested, let alone proposed so far, given the prevalence of intolerance there.

The referendum entails agreeing or disagreeing with modifying a few words in the Constitution to redefine marriage, currently defined as “between spouses”, to “between a man and a woman”, thus ensuring future attempts to legalise same-sex marriage meet an insurmountable barrier.

The context is, of course, that of lumping in people who simply happen to be gay with far left activists, disregarding the fact that equal rights are needed for concrete reasons and not some ideological abstraction, as is the case with much of what the far left calls for today. It also comes, as populism often does, in the context of a highly corrupt governing party trying to gain some legitimacy and not be strung up by the balls from a balcony (perhaps even literally). The best thing to do is shift the focus onto a new “enemy”, in this case the gay fellow citizens of these brave Christian crusaders.

As things stand now, a “no” vote will be unable to counteract the popular drive, since polls show an absolute majority in favour of so-called traditional marriage, hence the chosen resistance method is non-participation, in hopes that the minimum number of votes will not be met for the result to be valid. This makes sense, and as much as one would want to show up and vote “no” as a personal stance, it would only damage the end result.

Pro-life activists really should know better

In the Christian sphere, pro-life and pro-family activism are intertwined (the latter having a strong anti-gay component). Hence, the support of pro-life organisations for this blasted referendum.

Upon analysing the matter, one can see these activists routinely face the most disturbing aspects of heterosexual relationships.

They routinely help women who have been impregnated and dumped, women who face divorce, violence or being thrown out for refusing to have an abortion. There isn’t one version of “traditional” family dysfunction they have not been exposed to already.

The women turning to them were not impregnated by gay men or lesbians. Nor were they impregnated by “crazy leftists” on an anti-family crusade. Their problems are real and pressing, away from any ideological or religious nonsense. And there’s nothing the cultural rejection of homosexuality will help them, or their unborn children with, now or ever.

A country with such a high prevalence of abortions, child abandonment, poverty and broken families should not even pretend its societal fabric is threatened by the few gay couples wanting to live freely and have the same rights as everyone else.

The diaspora is largely silent

You’d think that a population scattered all over the world, in more culturally evolved societies, has something to say regarding this attempt to retain and fortify bigotry back home. That doesn’t seem to be the case. Aside from organisations such as Amnesty International, the only opposition is local, scant and drowned out by the mob enthusiasm of showing gay people they are not going to be accepted in their own country anytime soon.

There’s also a video going around, of a bunch of young Romanians living in London, describing the (bigoted) country they would one day like to return to, lamenting what is apparently happening in the UK “as a result of same-sex marriage being legal”. They don’t explain exactly what that is – just that it’s there, they’ve seen it and have a duty to warn of the imminent danger. Book a flight tomorrow, why don’t you.

It annoys me; I can’t pretend that it doesn’t. I’ve lived in that atmosphere, recently enough, and I know what it’s like to be surrounded by hypocritical bigots with halos where their arseholes should be, who take their daily frustrations out on others by trying to appear morally superior. To this day it’s still difficult to be an atheist over there, as religion is such a big part of daily life.

These youngsters have the luxury of living in a country where people are kind and polite to each other; they can hold any views they like unless they cause a disturbance by attacking others directly. That is still not the case where they were born.

I’m trying not to be too judgemental, as I went through a similar phase years ago, of conflating everything the left has supported overtime with its recent extreme manifestations.

But for the life of me – how are they so blind while living abroad? Don’t they routinely meet people who differ from them in terms of sexual orientation and express that overtly; don’t they see that everyone is the same when it comes to the basics? Don’t they see how mentally and spiritually restrictive the culture they grew up in was, and how much better it is when people relate through mutual respect?

To me it’s apparent that at least those who participated in the video were/are part of a religious community, which fuels their views to this day. What is it about London they find so objectionable, I wonder? What are those consequences they keep mentioning, that they want to avoid back in their home country?

The practical implications

Realistically, it would take years, even in normal circumstances (without the present hysteria) for gay marriage to become reality in Romania.

If this modification is validated by popular consensus, the message will be very clear towards gay people – that they are considered abnormal and will not be accepted. If things seemed to be going in the right direction, even at the speed of a snail, with increased acceptance in urban areas and increased visibility on television, any achieved progress would now be reversed.

“We don’t want to be like those decadent westerners!” 

…Says someone living on the breadline, who must prostrate him/herself before the smallest bureaucratic rank above their own.

As the rise of the right has recently demonstrated, when people feel disenfranchised, their psychological resort seems to be affirming their superiority to those more disenfranchised than them (war refugees, immigrants, ethnic or sexual minorities).

The atmosphere in that country is, more often than not, of sheer misery, far removed from the romanticised version of a rural paradise tourists are presented with. People are wary of each other, wary of authorities, looking to one-up those in their immediate proximity in any way. They face humiliations, corruption (bribery is present in ever section of society and determines how one is treated) and undeserved passive-aggressiveness from their fellow frustrated citizens on a daily basis.

Even by their standards, focusing on the “menace” that gay people presumably pose is like re-arranging the chairs on the Titanic while feeling it sink.

Poorly understood nationalism

I have read so many comments in the vein of “foreigners want to destroy us”, “the powers that be want to annihilate our Orthodox country” , “this is colonialism” etc, as if gay people wanting rights in their own country were the result of an international conspiracy.

I understand some people have a boner for that, pardon the language – but they should remember it’s their own fellow citizens, whose physical safety is not even guaranteed outside of their homes, they are so bravely “fighting” to keep oppressing.

If anyone from that community happens to come across this post…

Take a good look around, should you still be living in that so-called bastion of Christian morality. Just take a good look at those keeping you down, daily, and decide for yourself if you want to participate in doing that to others, just because you can.

While your boot is on someone’s neck, fifty bigger ones will still be on yours.

Sure, you can all sing the same tune for a couple of days, but will your fellow Christian warriors stand up for you when the tune fades out? In my experience, no, they won’t. They will continue to push you down for whatever vulnerability they detect in you, day in and day out, seeking to elevate themselves. How come they can only come together in hatred, but rarely anything else?

It’s brainwashing, wankery and nothing more. I’ve been there.